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| Blogs > RelaxedandFun102 > Food, Sex, and More Food |
Quinoa Salad, Again, Ingredients
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Quinoa Salad, Again, Ingredients Monday I made Quinoa salad for lunch, between lunch, snack, and dinner, gone that day. Tuesday I made Quinoa salad. Wednesday I still have a lot. Because I put a lot more stuff in it. This is a really great tasting salad, that is extremely healthy, keeps well for trips, at work, hiking, outdoor activities, at the beach or lake, poolside, tennis court, golf course, in the car! Quinoa, pronounced "keen wah", high in protein and nutrients, a reasonably low glycemic index, and more importantly, glycemic load, just a really great healthy cold or warm salad. I prefer this at room temperature but it's fine cold. It's a great lunch, a great mid day snack. You can change the flavor by mixing different spices, Italian, Middle Eastern, Indian, Mexican, Japanese/Thai/Vietnamese yech, French Thai food is fine. Buying the quinoa from bulk in a health food store is half the price of buying it in a box. Most if not all supermarkets sell it in a box. Cook 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 1/2 cups of water, cover tightly to keep the steam in, bring to a boil then quickly turn to a simmer for 15-30 minutes, 30 minutes is too long, you want to wait until all the water is absorbed and then turn it off, add 1/2 cup of raisins, stir, and cover. The addition of the raisins is for sweetness, color, and to let the raisins plump and soften. If you like other fruit or dried cranberries, fresh diced peaches, blueberries, you can use them, but be careful of tart fruits. While the quinoa is simmering, or softening the raisins, I then make the rest of the dish and the vinagrette. I skin and finely grate 1 to 2 carrots, you like carrots, use 2, don't like them, use none or one. I finely chop a medium size onion, I put some EVOO in a pan, when hot, I add minced garlic, a good Tb or two, swirl it around, don't let it sit too long, I want to flavor the EVOO with the garlic and I don't want the garlic to turn bitter, you can add a few red pepper flakes if you like some heat, then remove and pour in a small whisking container. I pressure cook 1/2 cup of dried black beans in chicken broth and add that. I now have carrots, onion, garlic, black beans. What other vegetables do you like? Broccoli? Add anything you want. You want some diced fruit? Add that. I've tried roasting sliced almonds and did not like the taste. Today I added both raisins and fresh blueberries to the mix. Stir and mix the bulk of the ingredients. Optional fresh basil, finely diced. I then make the vinagrette. How heavy do you want to go? I keep it light but it doesn't matter. If you want to add mayo, just use a little. I've tried a little and I've tried a lot, a lot doesn't work for me. 1/2 cup EVOO, 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar, a Tb or two of mayo (optional), 1 TB or less of honey, squeeze of 1/2 lemon or a full lemon, optional lime, grate the zest in, 1/2 tsp salt (optional), 1 Tb or more of dried basil and oregano, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp or more of black pepper. Then mix in the quinoa with the bulk of the vegetables, add the vinagrette. Stir well. Eat. I stand in front of the refrigerator looking for stuff to add, I stand in front of the cabinet looking for spices to add. If you've forgotten anything, it doesn't matter, it will taste good. If I remember anything more, I'll do an edit! |
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Thanks for this!!! I'll be experimenting with this over the weekend! 
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Thanks for this!!! I'll be experimenting with this over the weekend! Tonight I steamed some broccoli and had it with butter, ear of corn, chicken with spices and some red wine and balsamic vinegar, and ziti mixed with sour cream, cheddar cheese, crushed tomatoes, garlic, Italian seasoning. Nothing enough to blog about. Tomorrow night is pre kindergarten graduation for 2 5 year olds with cap and gown and dinner out afterwards.
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